St. James could not
overcome penalties, extreme opponent time of possession, and some
dubious officiating as Highland Home scored on a pass play with 17
seconds remaining in the game allowing the Flying Squadron to win the
season ending battle of 4 - 5 teams with a 13 - 6 victory over the
visiting Trojans.
The Trojans could not generate any offense on their opening drive, and
then committed three offside penalties on defense to help kickstart the
Squadron's first drive.
Highland Home picked up four first downs, and advanced the ball as
close as the Trojan 23, but two consecutive losses on runs turned the
ball over on downs to St. James.
The Trojans advanced to midfield in a quickly moving first half, but on
the first play of the second quarter a pass was intercepted by Deymond
Sankey at the Squadron 19. After picking up one first down,
Highland Home punted again.
After the punt was well away, a flag for holding was thrown downfield
on the Trojans. After the punt receiver was downed, the referees
talked for a while and decided "since possession (of the bouncing punt)
had not been retained (by St. James)", the penalty was enforced from
the
line of scrimmage, treated like a foul prior to the change of
possession, and gave the Squadron a free first down after an incorrect
interpretation of a rule which had been changed several years prior to
eliminate any such interpretation.
Nevertheless, Highland Home retained the ball and kept it for most of
the remainder of the second quarter as well, cashing in their
gifted opportunity. Darius Chambers' 12 yard run gave the
Squadron a
first down at the Trojan 6, and two plays later he carried over from
the 4
for the first score of the game. Chad Crews and other Trojans
crashed through the line to block the extra point attempt, but Highland
Home had a freebie 6 points to their credit to open game scoring.
Disaster struck on the Trojans' next scrimmage play as a pass was
intercepted by Alex Tindal at the Squadron 48 and returned all the way
to the Trojan 1, just short of an interception return touchdown.
However, on the following play, St. James caught a rare game break as
the
quarterback snap was fumbled and recovered in the endzone by the
Trojans for a touchback, giving them more tolerable field
position. After one
first down run and another one about to be recorded, a fumble was
recovered by Highland Home at the Trojan 43 with still over a minute to
go in the half. A penalty and several incomplete passes led to an
endzone punt, and the Trojans were lucky to be down only by 6 after the
triple turnovers in the second quarter.
St. James started the second half inspired, and defensed the Squadron
well early. One play after a poor Squadron pitch resulted in an
11 yard
loss, a Sankey fumble was recovered by the Trojans just outside the
Squadron 30, and a late hit penalty moved the ball to the 15. On
first down, Matt Dean cut off right end and broke through virtually
untouched into the endzone for a St. James score. The extra point
attempt swerved wide left, but the score was tied at 6 early in the
third quarter.
The Trojans were the recipient of another lost Squadron fumble on the
next drive at the Highland Home 43, but could gain no yardage.
Graham Sutter's punt was downed at the 4, and it appeared St. James had
the Squadron trapped again. However, Sankey took over running
from his quarterback position and picked up first downs on 19, 13, 12,
and 11 yard runs on the drive, chewing up almost all of the third
quarter clock. In fact, the Trojans only ran 11 offensive plays
in the second and third quarters combined. The drive stalled, and
a Squadron punt was fair caught by St. James at the Trojan 13 just
before the end of the third quarter.
Mainly on the rushing of Chase Christian and Dean, the Trojans picked
up 4 of their game 8 first downs on the first 5 plays of the fourth
quarter. St. James had a third down and 4 at the Squadron 31, but
a holding penalty negated what would have been another first down
run.
After a short pass completion, the Trojans waited before planning to
take the field for what would have been a 55 yard field goal
attempt. However, just seconds (it seemed) after the ball had
been put in play, a delay penalty was called, and the decision was made
to punt. It appeared to be the right one in retrospect, because
the punt was
downed at the 11 and Highland Home only picked up 3 yards on 3 plays
before they were to punt into the wind and give the Trojans good field
position.
As luck would have it, the wobbly punt took a crazy bounce and hit a
Trojan before being pounced on by a Highland Home coverer at the
Squadron 40, giving them new life. A huge loss on the next play
was partially offset by a mysterious face mask penalty way away from
the ball carrier. Several plays after a 12 yard pass from Sankey
to Ken Bailey, Sankey converted his own fourth down at the Trojan
45. Two more passes gained 18 yards. After a no gain run
and a penalty, the Squadron went for broke and hit the jackpot as
Sankey found Bailey again on the Squadron sideline, and he tiptoed just
into the endzone before being pushed out by Trojan defenders for a
touchdown with 17.3 seconds remaining. This time Kyle
Tucker converted his extra point, and Highland Home had a touchdown
lead with just seconds remaining.
St. James returned the kickoff back to their own 40, using almost 10
seconds in the process. The Trojans had time for only two plays
afterwards, both incomplete passes, and as players and coaches were
learning the result of the other playoff-dependant game was not going
in their favor, the season came to an abrupt and perhaps disappointing
end as a tiebreaker kept the Trojans out of the state playoffs for the
second consecutive year.
==============================================================================================================================
SIDELINE
STATISTICS - GAME TEN
ST.
JAMES
RUSHING 23 attempts 108 yards 1 TD (4.70
yards per carry)
32
Christian
10 / 56
14
Dean 10 /
44 (1 TD)
19
Newton
1 /
11
3
Martin 2 / - 3
PASSING 3 completions 7 attempts 2
INTs 11 yards 0 TDs (no sacks of)
3
Martin
2 - 3 - 1 8 yards
16
Enslen
1 - 4 - 1 3 yards
RECEIVING
4
Sutter
2 /
8
14
Dean
1 / 3
TOTAL YARDS: 119
KICKS: XP 0 / 1
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 2 (51,42)
PUNTS: 3 (48,34,37)
KO RETURNS: 3 (21,19,12)
PUNT
RETURNS: 2 (0fc,0f)
FIRST DOWNS: 8 (8 rushing)
FUMBLES: 3, lost 2
TURNOVER MARGIN: - 1
PENALTIES: 11 / 75 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 15:56
HIGHLAND
H RUSHING 50
attempts 161 yards 1 TD
(3.22 yards per carry)
PASSING 8 completions 17 attempts
0
INTs 88 yards 1 TD (no sacks of)
TOTAL YARDS: 249
KICKS: XP 1 / 2
FG 0 / 0
2 POINT CONVERSIONS: 0 / 0
KICKOFFS: 3 (48,44,48)
PUNTS: 3 (40,32,26)
KO RETURNS: 2
(16,22)
PUNT RETURNS: 0
INTERCEPTION RETURNS: 2 (0,51)
FIRST DOWNS: 18 (13 rushing, 2 passing, 3 penalty)
FUMBLES: 5, lost 3
PENALTIES: 7 / 50 yards
TIME OF POSSESSION: 32:04